⇦ 1980

1982 ⇨

The Best Music of 1981

Here is a selection of the best albums and songs from 1981. Hall of Famers are highlighted in orange.

For a list of the top artists who made their debut recording in 1981, check out this list.

Albums (?)		Wikipedia
ABBA	The Visitors	☆
AC/DC	For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)	☆
Agent Orange	Living in Darkness	☆
Air Supply	The One That You Love	☆
Akira Terao	Reflections	☆
Alabama	Feels So Right	☆
April Wine	The Nature of the Beast	☆
Bauhaus	Mask	☆
Billy Joel	Songs In The Attic	☆
Billy Squier	Don't Say No	☆
Black Flag	Damaged	☆
Black Sabbath	Mob Rules	☆
Blue Öyster Cult	Fire of Unknown Origin	☆
Bobby Womack	The Poet	☆
Brian Eno & David Byrne	My Life in the Bush of Ghosts	☆
Cluster	Curiosum	☆
Dan Fogelberg	The Innocent Age	☆
Def Leppard	High 'N' Dry	☆
Depeche Mode	Speak & Spell	☆
Duran Duran	Duran Duran	☆
Earth, Wind & Fire	Raise!	☆
Echo & The Bunnymen	Heaven Up Here	☆
Einstürzende Neubauten	Kollaps	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	Time	☆
Foreigner	4	☆
Gang of Four	Solid Gold	☆
Genesis	Abacab	☆
George Strait	Strait Country	☆
Grace Jones	Nightclubbing	☆
Hall & Oates	Private Eyes	☆
Heaven 17	Penthouse and Pavement	☆
Iron Maiden	Killers	☆
James Taylor	Dad Loves His Work	☆
Jean-Michel Jarre	Les Chants Magnétiques	☆
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts	I Love Rock 'n Roll	☆
John Williams	Raiders of the Lost Ark: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack	☆
Journey	Escape	☆
Judas Priest	Point of Entry	☆
Kim Carnes	Mistaken Identity	☆
King Crimson	Discipline	☆
Kraftwerk	Computer World	☆
Little River Band	Time Exposure	☆
Luther Vandross	Never Too Much	☆
Makoto Matsushita	First Light	☆
Marianne Faithfull	Dangerous Acquaintances	☆
Men at Work	Business as Usual	☆
Minor Threat	Minor Threat	☆
Motörhead	No Sleep 'til Hammersmith	☆
Oingo Boingo	Only a Lad	☆
Olivia Newton-John	Physical	☆
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark	Architecture & Morality	☆
Ozzy Osbourne	Diary of a Madman	☆
Pat Benatar	Precious Time	☆
Phil Collins	Face Value	☆
Prince	Controversy	☆
Quincy Jones	The Dude	☆
Rick James	Street Songs	☆
Rick Springfield	Working Class Dog	☆
Rickie Lee Jones	Pirates	☆
Rod Stewart	Tonight I'm Yours	☆
Rush	Moving Pictures	☆
Rush	Exit...Stage Left	☆
Siouxsie & the Banshees	Juju	☆
Smokey Robinson	Being With You	☆
Soft Cell	Non Stop Erotic Cabaret	☆
Squeeze	East Side Story	☆
Stevie Nicks	Bella Donna	☆
Styx	Paradise Theater	☆
The Birthday Party	Prayers on Fire	☆
The Cars	Shake It Up	☆
The Cure	Faith	☆
The Human League	Dare	☆
The J. Geils Band	Freeze Frame	☆
The Kinks	Give the People What They Want	☆
The Moody Blues	Long Distance Voyager	☆
The Pointer Sisters	Black & White	☆
The Police	Ghost in the Machine	☆
The Pretenders	Pretenders II	☆
The Psychedelic Furs	Talk Talk Talk	☆
The Replacements	Sorry Ma, Forgot To Take Out the Trash	☆
The Rolling Stones	Tattoo You	☆
Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers	Hard Promises	☆
U2	October	☆
Van Halen	Fair Warning	☆
Vangelis	Chariots of Fire	☆
Venom	Welcome to Hell	☆
X	Wild Gift	☆
ZZ Top	El Loco	☆

---

Songs (?)		Wikipedia
38 Special	Hold On Loosely	☆
AC/DC	For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)	☆
Adam & The Ants	Stand and Deliver	☆
Air Supply	Sweet Dreams	☆
Al Jarreau	We're in This Love Together	☆
Bauhaus	Kick in the Eye	☆
Berlin	The Metro	☆
Billy Idol	Dancing With Myself	☆
Billy Idol	Mony Mony	☆
Billy Squier	The Stroke	☆
Billy Squier	My Kinda Lover	☆
Billy Squier	Lonely Is the Night	☆
Billy Squier	Christmas is the Time to Say "I Love You"	☆
Black Flag	Rise Above	☆
Black Flag	TV Party	☆
Blue Öyster Cult	Burnin' For You	☆
Bobby Womack	If You Think You're Lonely Now	☆
Bruce Cockburn	You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance	☆
Buckner & Garcia	Pac-Man Fever	☆
Carl Carlton	She's a Bad Mama Jama (She's Built, She's Stacked)	☆
Christopher Cross	Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do	☆
Classix Nouveaux	Guilty	☆
Dan Fogelberg	Leader of the Band	☆
David Allan Coe	Tennessee Whiskey	☆
Dead Kennedys	Too Drunk to F*ck	☆
Def Leppard	Bringin' on the Heartbreak	☆
Depeche Mode	Just Can't Get Enough	☆
Devo	Through Being Cool	☆
Duran Duran	Girls on Film	☆
Duran Duran	Planet Earth	☆
Earth, Wind And Fire	Let's Groove	☆
Einst?rzende Neubauten	Kollaps	☆
Electric Light Orchestra	Hold on Tight	☆
Falco	Der Kommissar	☆
Foreigner	Urgent	☆
Foreigner	Juke Box Hero	☆
Foreigner	Waiting for a Girl Like You	☆
Genesis	Abacab	☆
Genesis	No Reply at All	☆
George Benson	Turn Your Love Around	☆
George Harrison	All Those Years Ago	☆
Grandmaster Flash	The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel	☆
Grover Washington, Jr., feat. Bill Withers	Just The Two Of Us	☆
Hall & Oates	I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)	☆
Hall & Oates	Private Eyes	☆
Hank Williams Jr.	All My Rowdy Friends (Have Settled Down)	☆
Heaven 17	Penthouse and Pavement	☆
James Taylor & JD Souther	Her Town Too	☆
Joan Armatrading	The Weakness In Me	☆
Joan Jett	Bad Reputation	☆
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts	I Love Rock And Roll	☆
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts	Crimson and Clover	☆
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts	Do You Wanna Touch Me? (Oh Yeah)	☆
Joey Scarbury	Theme from The Greatest American Hero (Believe It or Not)	☆
John Williams	Raiders of The Lost Ark (Main Theme)	☆
Journey	Don't Stop Believin'	☆
Journey	Open Arms	☆
Journey	Stone In Love	☆
Journey	Who's Crying Now	☆
Judas Priest	Heading Out to the Highway	☆
Judas Priest	Hot Rockin'	☆
Juice Newton	Queen of Hearts	☆
Juice Newton	Angel of the Morning	☆
Kate Bush	Sat In Your Lap	☆
Kenny Rogers	Through The Years	☆
Kim Carnes	Bette Davis Eyes	☆
Kim Wilde	Kids in America	☆
King Crimson	Frame by Frame	☆
Kool and the Gang	Get Down On It	☆
Kraftwerk	Computer Love	☆
Kraftwerk	Numbers	☆
Laurie Anderson	O Superman	☆
Lindsey Buckingham	Trouble	☆
Lionel Richie & Diana Ross	Endless Love	☆
Little River Band	Take It Easy on Me	☆
Loverboy	Working for the Weekend	☆
Luther Vandross	Never Too Much	☆
Luther Vandross	A House Is Not a Home	☆
Madness	It Must Be Love	☆
Marty Balin	Hearts	☆
Meat Loaf featuring Cher	Dead Ringer for Love	☆
Men At Work	Down Under	☆
Men At Work	Who Can It Be Now?	☆
Men At Work	Be Good Johnny	☆
Mike Post featuring Larry Carlton	The Theme from Hill Street Blues	☆
Minor Threat	Minor Threat	☆
Minor Threat	Straight Edge	☆
Mission Of Burma	That's When I Rearch For My Revolver	☆
New Order	Ceremony	☆
Olivia Newton-John	Physical	☆
Olivia Newton-John	Make A Move On Me	☆
Ozzy Osbourne	Flying High Again	☆
Pat Benatar	Fire and Ice	☆
Patti Austin & James Ingram	Baby, Come to Me	☆
Pete Shelley	Homosapien	☆
Phil Collins	In The Air Tonight	☆
Phil Collins	I Missed Again	☆
Quarterflash	Harden My Heart	☆
Queen & David Bowie	Under Pressure	☆
Quincy Jones featuring James Ingram	One Hundred Ways	☆
R.E.M.	Radio Free Europe	☆
Ramones	The KKK Took My Baby Away	☆
Red Rider	Lunatic Fringe	☆
Rick James	Super Freak	☆
Rick James	Give it to Me Baby	☆
Rick Springfield	Jessie's Girl	☆
Rick Springfield	I've Done Everything for You	☆
Rod Stewart	Young Turks	☆
Romeo Void	Never Say Never	☆
Rosanne Cash	Seven Year Ache	☆
Roxy Music	Jealous Guy	☆
Rush	Tom Sawyer	☆
Rush	Limelight	☆
Rush	YYZ	☆
Rush	Red Barchetta	☆
Sheena Easton	For Your Eyes Only	☆
Siouxsie and the Banshees	Spellbound	☆
Siouxsie and The Banshees	Arabian Knights	☆
Smokey Robinson	Being With You	☆
Soft Cell	Tainted Love	☆
Squeeze	Tempted	☆
Stephanie Mills featuring Teddy Pendergrass	Two Hearts	☆
Steve Carlisle	WKRP in Cincinnati	☆
Steve Martin	Banana Banjo	☆
Stevie Nicks	Edge Of Seventeen	☆
Stevie Nicks with Don Henley	Leather and Lace	☆
Stevie Nicks with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	Stop Draggin' My Heart Around	☆
Stray Cats	Rock This Town	☆
Stray Cats	Stray Cat Strut	☆
Styx	Too Much Time On My Hands	☆
Styx	The Best of Times	☆
Teena Marie	Square Biz	☆
Teena Marie feat. Rick James	I'm a Sucker for Your Love	☆
The Birthday Party	Release The Bats	☆
The Cars	Shake It Up	☆
The Cars	Since You're Gone	☆
The Clash	This Is Radio Clash	☆
The Commodores	Lady (You Bring Me Up)	☆
The Go-Go's	Our Lips Are Sealed	☆
The Greg Kihn Band	The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)	☆
The Human League	Don't You Want Me	☆
The Human League	Love Action (I Believe in Love)	☆
The J. Geils Band	Centerfold	☆
The J. Geils Band	Freeze-Frame	☆
The Kinks	Destroyer	☆
The Moody Blues	The Voice	☆
The Moody Blues	Gemini Dream	☆
The Oak Ridge Boys	Elvira	☆
The Pointer Sisters	Slow Hand	☆
The Police	Every Little Thing She Does is Magic	☆
The Police	Spirits in the Material World	☆
The Police	Invisible Sun	☆
The Pretenders	Message of Love	☆
The Psychedelic Furs	Pretty In Pink	☆
The Rolling Stones	Start Me Up	☆
The Specials	Ghost Town	☆
The Stranglers	Golden Brown	☆
The Sugarhill Gang	Apache	☆
The Waitresses	Christmas Wrapping	☆
The Who	You Better You Bet	☆
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers	The Waiting	☆
Tom Tom Club	Genius of Love	☆
U2	Gloria	☆
Ultravox	I Remember (Death in the Afternoon)	☆
Van Halen	Unchained	☆
Vangelis	Titles (Chariots of Fire)	☆
X	We're Desperate	☆
Yoko Ono	Walking on Thin Ice	☆

⇦ 1980

1982 ⇨